Chapter 2

I arched my brow and demanded, "Who exactly did you buy it for with the company's money?"

Keanu's jaw tightened. "You have some nerve asking that! If you hadn't snatched Ellie's necklace, I wouldn't have wasted a whole week tracking this one down just to make it up to her."

I was about to question him when Zayn beat me to it. He cut in with disgust written all over his face, "You snatched something from Ellie again? Do you have no shame? Do you seriously think the company belongs to you?

"Everything we bought was for her! It has nothing to do with you! Who gave you the right to take them?"

Julian clenched his fists while glaring at me furiously.

"What did you snatch from Ellie? Give it back to her right now! Ever since you came back, she's done nothing but compromise for you! But why won't you leave her alone?"

Noticing how tense the three of them were almost made me laugh, though deep down, I felt sad for myself.

When I was first brought back, I was sensitive and insecure. I'd never received a gift before, and the very first one I received was from Eliana. I even cautiously wore it to the first banquet my father brought me to.

However, when I returned home after being mocked by everyone there, my father slapped me across the face. "How could you be so vicious? Even if Ellie accidentally gave you a fake one, you could have just asked her to apologize to you! Why did you destroy all of her jewelry?"

That was the first time Keanu, who had always been gentle to me, looked at me with disgust. "Every piece of Ellie's jewelry was bought by us. She doesn't even know which ones are real or fake!"

I believed Eliana. However, she kept losing things after that.

My father's loathsome glares and slaps would come down on me time and time again. Keanu's gaze, too, grew colder with every incident.

I endured it all because I was terrified of being sent back to that chauvinistic family in the mountains, terrified of being abandoned again. So, I put up with them until now.

However, realization dawned on me then. My grandfather was the one who called the shots in the company.

"Forget it. We don't need her to return it. Even if she does, Ellie won't want it." Keanu waved his hand impatiently before turning to leave.

I stopped him. "Hold on. Since the 20 million dollars were your personal expense, you'll need to reimburse them."

Zayn immediately flipped. "So what if Keanu spent 20 million dollars? He just closed a billion-dollar deal for the company yesterday!"

Julian appeared even more upset than Keanu. "Let's go! Let's see how she manages this company without us. If she doesn't get down on her knees and beg us to come back, she deserves to watch it collapse!

"Let's see what she has left to use against us! She's nothing but a yokel—she can't even hold a candle to Ellie. Let's see how far she can go without us!"

"Don't think I'll compromise just because you're my fiancee," Keanu snorted before turning and walking away. Zayn and Julian shot me a gloating look before following after him.

I was well aware of the reason they were so confident.

After years of meticulous planning, my father had planted his men in almost every department of my grandfather's company. These three were the ringleaders. If they left, the company's operations would immediately fall into chaos.

Unfortunately for them, that setup had already crumbled a year ago. My grandfather had since taken full control of all the critical departments.

Even that billion-dollar deal Keanu boasted about was finalized only because my grandfather's assistant intervened and negotiated it behind the scenes.